Biblische Ausbildung

Welcome to the Wonderful World of the Old Testament / Hebrew Bible! Enjoy these postings of resources, projects by my students, movies and images, links, reflections, humor, and other items related to teaching the Bible at a Flagship Seminary. This blog is interactive: You can add your comments and post your questions. Go ahead, it's fun...

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Paulinerkirche Library

Here is a panorama and some photos of the Paulinerkirche Library, where we held the second half of our colloquium. Below the panorama is the seminar room where our papers were delivered and discussed. The next photo is the inner courtyard of the complex. Below that are two shots of the rare book area, which is the converted sanctuary of the old church. One of the manuscript pages on display pictures the sin of the golden calf in the wilderness (final photo).

Monday, May 23, 2011

Altes Rathaus

The Old Town Hall, built in the 13th to 15th centuries, is remarkable for its sturdy, stone construction. The building served multiple purposes, including a site for weddings, court proceedings, a jail, a merchant’s guild hall, a site for trading linen, etc. The décor of the main hall includes many engaging frescos stemming from the 19th century.

Here is a Photosynth panorama of the interior of the Town Hall. Use your mouse to pan around the entire space, including the ceiling:

Outside the Town Hall is the Gänseliesel fountain. The figure is a young girl bringing her geese to market. The university custom is for those receiving their doctoral degrees to be wheeled to the statue in a cart covered with flowers and to kiss the figure’s bronze cheek.

Friday, May 20, 2011

An Historic University House

In the photos below, I am standing at the house where Julius Wellhausen had an encounter that would markedly influence his monumental research on the Hebrew Bible. Wellhausen reported that here during a casual visit to Göttingen in the summer of 1867 he learned from Albrecht Ritschl that Karl Heinrich Graf dated the Bible’s books of Law later in time than the Prophets, overturning all traditional assumptions. Wellhausen later wrote, “Almost without knowing his reasons for the hypothesis, I was prepared to accept it; I readily acknowledged to myself the possibility of understanding Hebrew antiquity without the book of the Torah.”

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Photos from around the Town

First, below is a typical German pharmacy (a bit different from those in the US; e.g., the pharmacists can actually prescribe some helpful drugs):

Below is a photo of the German offices of Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, an academic publishing house for more than 275 years that is well known to biblical scholars. Apparently the monarch brought the publisher to the city just a few years prior to the starting of the university:

Third, below is the Deutsches Theater, a cultural center within the city:

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Group Photo of Participants

Nathan MacDonald, the convener and organizer of the “Divine Presence and Divine Absence” colloquium just emailed our group photo, taken outside the Paulinerkirche Library and meeting rooms. In the first row, with some seated, we have Izaak de Hulster (Göttingen University), myself, Stephen Cook (Virginia Theological Seminary), Joel Burnett (Baylor University), Angelika Berlejung (Leipzig University), Lisbeth Fried (University of Michigan), and Jill Middlemas (Zurich University). In the second row, we have Bob Becking (Utrecht University), Robert Barrett (Göttingen University), Trevor Hart (St. Andrew’s University), Claus Ambos (Heidelberg University), Nathan MacDonald (Göttingen University / St. Andrew’s University), Ben Sommer (Jewish Theological Seminary), Kenneth Brown (Göttingen University), Lydia Lee (Göttingen University), and Roberto Piani (Göttingen University). It was a terrific group, and the talks and discussion were excellent. The papers are to be published in a forthcoming volume from Mohr Siebeck, most likely in the series Forschungen zum Alten Testament II.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Platz der Göttinger

Safe back at home from the colloquy in Göttingen and able to use my computers and not just my iPhone, I can post some better images and discussion from the trip. Our first round of papers and discussions took place in the Theologicum building (the lower photo shows the entrance) at the Platz der Göttinger, right near the big university library, the Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, Göttingen. I’m including a panorama of the whole area that I took standing right below the circular tower of the library (shown in the upper photo). Enjoy!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

About to Board my Flight to Germany

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Scholarly Meeting in Göttingen

Today, I’m making last minute preparations for my trip to Germany. I’ll be part of a small colloquy-conference on the topic of “Divine Presence and Absence”: Göttliche Anwesenheit und Abwesenheit Tagung, Göttingen, Germany. If all the technology works, I plan to post updates and pictures from Germany here in this blog.

Duties of a son, from The Story of Aqhat: To erect a stele for his ancestral gods; to build a family shrine in the sanctuary;
to guard his footsteps from earth to underworld; to take his hand when he is drunk; to put his arm over one's shoulder when he is full of
wine; to eat a funeral meal in the temple of Ba'al; to offer a sacrifice in the house of El.